Ruby Red
Cover blurb:
“What a coming-of-age ritual: throw a 16-year-old warrior at some random galactic battle, then give them a pat on the back and their own sword if they survive.”
April, 1242: The Doctor and Ruby answer a distress call sent from medieval Russia. The signal’s sender? Ranavere, an alien girl forced to take part in a barbaric conflict between the armies of Estonia and Novgorod on the frozen surface of Lake Peipus.
Ranavere wants to escape, but her distress call has summoned her warmongering sisters, intent on preserving family tradition whatever the cost. And as human battle begins, The Doctor and Ruby must face a more devastating threat — a monstrous entity with plans of conquest, growing stronger beneath the icy lake…
The TARDIS lands on Lake Peipus in the 1200s. The Doctor claims it to be the fifth largest lake in Europe, with its deepest point being fifteen metres.
Ruby claims that her green coat makes her look like a “furry sprout”.
The Doctor tells Ruby that Pskov is a city in the south recently taken by the Novgorodian army.
The Doctor tells Ruby that, having arrived prior to 5 April, they are “days away” from the Battle on the Ice, a huge fight between the Duchy of Estonia and Novgorod Republic, which marked the end of the Northern Crusades in the region, and cementing Prince Alexander Nemsky as a national hero.
The Rentaras are a family of intergalactic mercenaries. At the age of sixteen, a child of the Rentara’s are sent to a random war on a random planet and told to survive.
Ruby has never seen wild wolves before.
Ruby compares the taste of the coffee from the TARDIS coffee machine to roast potatoes.
Ruby remarks on how the Fifteenth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver doesn’t look like a screwdriver
Ruby is offered a coffee from the new TARDIS coffee machine. (The Star Beast)
When The Doctor gets locked out of his TARDIS, he tries clicking his fingers to get back in. (Forest of the Dead)
To explain to her how to navigate across the ice, The Doctor tells Ruby to “move [her] centre of mavity to her feet”. (Wild Blue Yonder)
Ran uses a perception filter to change Ruby and The Doctor’s clothes into something more modest. The Eleventh Doctor similarly used hologram clothes to cover his, and later Clara Oswald’s, nudity when visiting the Papal Mainframe. (The Time of the Doctor)
A similar city of tents by the name of Hooverville was visited by the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jonesin Central Park, New York City during 1930. (Daleks in Manhattan)
The Doctor tells Ruby that the TARDIS has been “feeling a bit upset lately”, in reference to the strange groan that could be heard emanating from the TARDIS. (Wild Blue Yonder, The Devil’s Chord, Rogue)
Ruby resonates with Ran not having a home, recalling her foundling origin. (The Church on Ruby Road)
